Discovery
by SaroksVenom
Summary: A new character finds himself in Swordland. Watch as the plot warps and ripples with the addition of a third major party as Sarok struggles to survive alongside his new friends in the Death Game. ((Originally a rewrite, now a standalone replacement)). OC/OC, Kirito/Asuna
1. A Bit of Backstory is Always Necessary

**A/N: Welcome to the Paranoia re-write, AKA Discovery. I re-titled my story since it was brought to my attention that the current title didn't really fit. Along with a lot of other things. If you wish, you can still read the other story, but I aspire to make this one a hell of a lot higher in quality. Thanks for your time.**

**Edit 12/6/2014: I've been struggling heavily with depression lately, so this is coming out later than I expected. As a result, I only have the first three chappies to this story done, including this prologue. I'll try to upload semi-regularly, with two or three updates a week if not a day. Things will go up as I finish them, but I wanted to get a foundation for the story before I started uploading, especially with my other story developing. That one will remain a bit of a secret for now.**

_Prologue: A Bit of Backstory is Always Necessary_

"A bit of backstory is _always _necessary, Matt!" I exclaimed to my best friend over the phone. We were arguing over our next game and its storyboard; we had started a company in the last year and were hard-pressed to find someone willing to do the plot, so we were attempting to shoulder it between the two of us since our solitary employee was busy with the hard-coding. It was a bit hard to coordinate, though, since I was in Japan for university.

"Look, Matt, I know that you want to jump right into it, but exposition is the biggest part of any story! If you don't have it, no one really understands what's going on!" I sighed as an exasperated reply filtered through the receiver. "Fine. I'll try and fit into my busy schedule, oh valued partner. I have to go, the time difference is killer right about now. I'll talk to you tonight, okay? Yeah, bye."

After I got off the phone I cursed into the empty air next to me; I was alone in my apartment. My roommate was off running errands and I had just started school; unless I found someone creative fast, I was fucked. I leaned back in my desk chair and yawned. It was early in the morning for me, and I had a lot of work to do before class tomorrow. Granted, it was already ten in the morning, but that was plenty early for me.

Cracking my neck and promising I'd get all my work done before I had my fun, stood and picked up my mask from the table next to the door, putting it over the lower half of my face with a bitter look. As long as I could remember, I had had some obscure hereditary disease that horribly disfigured my face; I had long jagged black veins clearly visible along it and concentrated especially along my jawline. Additionally, for whatever reason I was unable to cry. At all. Ever. It put off a lot of people from befriending me since I never seemed to have any sympathy and was generally scary to look at, so I had never had too many friends.

Lucky for me, I had met Matt when we were both eleven. He was shunned pretty badly too, though for different reasons; he had a tendency to be completely emotionless and go so far as to avoid human contact. He didn't like people very much as he was afraid that he would catch their stupid, and he was always the top of our class. We made fast friends since I seemed to be the only one who could keep up with his mind and he was the only one that didn't care about my physical appearance.

As time passed, Matt and I grew closer and closer until one day we realized we had just started finishing each other's sentences. It was scary and kind of corny, but high school is like that when you spend all your time almost exclusively in one person's company. Now, our families were naturally supportive and wonderful people, and by the time we had both graduated we had pretty much adopted each other as honorary brothers.

About a month before graduation, we decided to start up a company. We would specialize in game design and development, and we first released a slew of short puzzle games, mostly as filler for our future content. Our next project was the biggest; a full-fledged story-heavy RPG. Unfortunately, the summer drew us apart from our goals a bit. I had gotten a full time job at a summer camp, and Matt was occupied with his girlfriend.

Eventually, though I had to leave America. I had determined that ultimately it was a good choice to move to Japan for college to learn coding from the game developers that founded Nintendo. They were bound to know some good tricks, and Matt and I agreed that it was beneficial to the company, especially with the announcement of the new VRMMO genre. I promised to look into it and get a copy of the NerveGear, the system used to simulate virtual reality, if I could. It would prove revolutionary if we could port our idea to the console.

And so here I was, an aspiring Japanese college student that had just moved from America. Lucky for me, I already knew the language and positively adored culture research, so it wasn't too hard for me to merge with the local university life. Another fortunate occurrence was the gift of my mask. Although I resented it, it covered the lower half of my face from my nose down seamlessly, leaving only my eyes and scalp visible. Since my condition was less prevalent there, it made making friends a lot easier for me. The mask itself was blood red and made from a smooth plastic-titanium hybrid. It was comfortable enough, but having people unable to tell whether I was smiling was a bit of a letdown.

I sighed again, looking at the clock. About fifteen minutes had passed since I took my trip down memory lane, and I groaned and stretched after fitting the mask to my front. I was a lazy fucker, but I had a reasonably good work ethic even so. Shaking the cobwebs out of my head, I opened the front door and left the apartment, locking it behind me.

My first stop was a café I had found by wandering around the area my first few weeks. It was a bit of a hole in the wall, but the owners were nice people and the bartender was even American like me! Well, his wife was American. His name was the most American about him as he grew up in Japan. I strode in purposefully and took a seat at the bar; it was pretty much empty given the time, and the only other occupant of the room was the owner himself. "Yo, Andrew," I greeted as he slid me my usual English-style breakfast. "Looking forward to the launch today?"

"You know I am, Charles," the man replied in his characteristically deep voice. We were speaking in English as usual to give me some comfort; it was a bit off-putting when no one really cared to learn your language, though it was understandable seeing as it was one of the world's hardest to learn. Too many grammar rules. "You got a username and character appearance picked out already?" I nodded as I ate. "Good to know. Mine's going to be Agil if you want to shoot me a friend request when you get in."

I swallowed my latest bite and looked up at last, smiling. "I'll do that, Andy. How's Kathy doing? I haven't seen her in a while. She still sore about you winning the fight for control of the game?" Andrew laughed and leaned forward onto the counter.

"She's doing fine. She's out running errands right now. Besides, she couldn't be too sore that I beat her fair and square." I smirked. "Shut up, you. It was perfectly fair and you know it." I widened my smirk and Agil sighed; I had helped him a little bit with his fight prior to it to help him win; Kathy didn't know.

"Whatever you say, Andy. Well," I started, drinking the last of the orange juice he had provided me, "I ought to go. I have quite a bit of work piled up that I need to finish before logging in. I'll see you there. Don't be worried when you get my request as soon as you get it; you know full well I'm keeping my screen name a surprise!" Waving, I left the café.

Of course, the two of us had been talking about the biggest game of the decade, Sword Art Online. The game was the first full dive game for the NerveGear and was truly a masterpiece of code. It was an RPG with a twist – you made your own character. It wasn't unlike a game such as Skyrim or Oblivion from the early 2000s, but your dialogue choices were only as limited as your mind and the plot breadth was truly extraordinary. As both an avid player and a developer, I _had _to get a copy.

Andrew, of course, would also be joining me in game. He and his wife Kathy had met inside an MMO, and so gaming was a very big part of their lives. The fight the two of us had referred to was a battle between him and Kathy to determine who would receive the honor of playing Sword Art Online during launch day; he had only been able to secure one copy of the game as there were only 10,000 made in the first batch.

Next up on my list of tasks for the day was to find my roommate, Ryōtarō. Even though he was a full four years older than me, he helped me out once I arrived in his country and was one of the kindest people I had ever met. He and his close group of friends were in a guild together in another MMO; as such, I waited in line with them to get a copy of the game. He and I were planning to dive together as a testament to our friendship.

Ryōtarō was one of the most amusing people I had ever met. He was a bachelor like myself, but he was overly enthusiastic when meeting pretty much any unattached woman. It had embarrassed me on many occasions, and I often found myself apologizing to the poor girls. What my friend and roommate lacked in tact, however, he more than made up for in loyalty. As the guild leader in his MMO, he made a point never to leave someone behind and always help them where he needed to. In addition, even though he know about my facial appearance, he couldn't care less and supported me where others shunned me.

After wandering aimlessly for a while, I slapped myself upside the head at my foolishness. I fished my phone out of my pocket and dialed his number; he picked up almost immediately. "What's up, man?" he asked brightly. I smiled at his enthusiasm; Ryōtarō was _always _happy to see or talk to me. "What did you want?"

"I just want to know your location, dude," I replied with a chuckle. "I was going to come help you out with whatever you're doing for a bit. I hope you didn't forget to order the pizza in preparation for our dive in a couple hours!" We had made sure to plan out our day for maximum efficiency; this way we would only have to be logged out of the game for a few minutes before jumping in again. Since it was launch day, the pair of us had made the questionable decision to pull an all-nighter that night; since Monday was a weekday it was a bit risky.

"Oh yeah, the pizza! I'll call after I get off the phone! By the way, back to your question, I'm just about finished so I'll meet you back at home, alright? I know you have some work to do with Matt." I sighed into the receiver and Ryō, as I called him to shorten the name and generally irritate him, laughed loudly. "Of course you don't want to work. We can always sync up the NerveGears instead?" He ended in a question.

I brightened almost instantly. "Sounds great! I'll meet you back at home. Half an hour sound good? Just saw Yuki and want to say hi and make sure she's still coming over later." I had in fact caught sight of another of my friends; Yuki Nagato, someone I had met in the library my first few days here. She was a junior in high school but had an astounding knowledge of literary culture from both Japan and America, so we hit it off right away.

"Hey! Yuki!" I called out, jogging to reach the girl. "How's it going? You're still coming over, right?" She smiled slightly and upturned her face to meet my eyes. Yuki was one of the shyest people I had ever met, which drew me to her naturally. I found her silence and social ineptitude rather cute.

"Yes," her simple response was characteristic of her and I grinned. "5:30, right?" I nodded. "I'll be there. The key is in the usual place?"

"Yup!" I answered, pretending that my friend could see my smile under the mask. "Try and be there a little early, you know how I like seeing your face when I wake up!" Yuki blushed a bit and I threw an arm around her shoulder. "Bah! I'm just joking and you know it. Seriously though, try to make it a bit early. Ryō and I tend to lose track of time when it comes to games."

"Will do. See you later, Charlie." With that, Yuki turned and walked away. I shook my head at the action; the girl just didn't know how to act around people. Granted, I had been much the same as a kid, but my personality woke up at some point. It just took some time out of the books for me to realize I wasn't living up to my full potential.

I glanced at my watch and then at a nearby street sign. My eyes widened and I swore. I had fifteen minutes to get back to my apartment and it was nearly a forty five minute walk from where I was. I sighed and smacked myself; it appeared I had wandered quite a ways from my home. Luckily, I knew that both Ryō and Matt could wait a bit longer and took off running.

It was nearly twelve thirty when I got back to my room. Panting, I burst in to the sight of Ryō on the phone while lounging on the couch with our NerveGears on the table. I sighed in relief; I was safe for the moment. I took out my own phone and dialed Matt, making the international call with almost no effort. So much had changed in communication technologies since my childhood in the early 2000s.

The dial tone rang for thirty seconds before forwarding to voicemail. I shrugged and left a message for my partner telling him that it wouldn't be until late that I could get to the work we needed to do since my blunder of a hike ended so spectacularly bad. He would understand, and after finishing I hung up and slid the phone into my pocket. Turning to Ryō, who had by now finished his own call, I grinned and pushed him to the side before flopping down on the couch next to him.

"Ready?" I said excitedly, taking off my mask and setting it on the table in place of my NerveGear, which I had picked up. "Yuki's going to be here early, so don't be too surprised about it when we log out." Ryō smirked slyly at me and I punched him playfully. "Oh stop it, there's nothing between us and you know it."

"So if there's nothing between you two, you won't mind if I charm her then, right?" I glared at him and he chuckled. "Yeah right, nothing between you two. If you don't come to your senses pretty soon, I'll have to act myself!" I punched him again, not holding back this time, and smiled when he winced.

By now it was nearly time for our dive, and we hurriedly calibrated our NerveGears. After we made sure everything was ready for us and that the key was in its usual place under the potted plant we had reluctantly placed outside, Ryō and I lay on the floor across from each other, watching with bated breath as the clock counted down to 13:00. _45…46…47… _I counted in my head, my excitement growing with every tick of the second hand on our retro analog.

"Link Start!" The two of us nearly screamed as the minute hand finally ticked to its position on the twelve. Finally, we would be entering the game we had been looking forward to for about a year. Finally, I would be able to get a taste of virtual reality. Finally, I could create a character I could walk around as without worrying about people cringing at my disfigurement. Finally, I could make friends in a world where there were none of the usual barriers to social interaction. Sword Art Online was finally a reality.


	2. An Ominous Interaction

_Chapter 1: An Ominous Interaction_

I was shot into a sea of color, and one by one I felt my senses tested. It made sense; it wouldn't be 'Full Dive' if one of the five imperative senses was malfunctioning. Briefly, I wondered how the system would handle the blind or deaf before shrugging and tossing aside the thought. It didn't matter to me.

After some indefinite amount of time I found myself at the character creation screen. Like in any game where such a thing was customizable, every aspect of the avatar had a slider or button to toggle for the amount of detail. The default male skin was an exact copy of myself; with a few manipulations, I eliminated the unattractive veins and smirked at my now unblemished face. After a moment's hesitation, I confirmed my choice in appearance and followed the system's prompt to a text box in which I was meant to enter my desired username.

I thought for a moment more before coming to my conclusion and typing in five simple letters. I had fallen in love with the name early on in my career as a gamer; I had come up with it while debating over the name of my persona in some other trivial MMO. _Sarok, _I thought fondly. _It is long past the time I actually became you._ I touched the confirmation button and my vision went dark.

When I was able to see again, I noticed the HUD first. It wasn't too detailed, but I studied it just the same. All the usual things were there. Health bar and HP count, level, and slots for party members could be seen. Before I did anything else, I scrolled through the menu, ignoring the obvious 'settings' key that would no doubt take me to a screen where I could adjust the options, call a GM for help, or log out.

I took a look around; I didn't need to mess with the options. The game was beautiful enough on its own without my meddling. Glancing back down at my menu, I examined the remaining sub-menus. The first one down appeared to be my inventory and equipment tab. When I tapped the button, a display opened on the left with my character and another opened on the right with the typical sub-menus for equipment, items, and skills.

Closing that particular sub-tree, I went to the next one to discover it was geared toward friends and guilds. Since there wasn't much to deal with at the current point on that menu, I moved on to the communications tree. As soon as I saw the option to befriend players, I typed in the name Ryō had given me along with one for Andrew. Hopefully 'Klein' and 'Agil' would respond favorably.

The last button on the main menu was the option to open the maps and quest. I examined the map for my current location, the Starting City, familiarizing myself with the local vendors and opting to first visit a weapons shop. It wouldn't do me much good to wander around without a sword of some kind.

Browsing the local stores, it didn't take me long to find a weapon I liked. I called over the NPC who owned the shop and asked him for the blade; it was a weak starting German-style dagger. After paying for my weapon, the ding of an incoming message sounded. Klein had accepted my friend request and wanted me to join him with some beta tester he had met so we could learn the ropes. I sighed fondly and sent an acquiescence before heading in the direction my friend had specified.

When I arrived at the coordinates given to me, I found that my roommate had partnered with a man whose avatar and pose suggested experience with the game already. He was wearing light-colored cloth boots and brown pants along with a blue long-sleeved shirt and a leather chest piece. There was a since one-handed longsword strapped to his back and he had black hair and a seemingly permanent smirk. "Yo, Klein. This the beta tester you told me about?" Klein nodded.

"Sarok, my friend, meet Kirito. He's going to show us how to fight and kill in this world. Right, Kirito?" The new man nodded, waving three fingers in my direction. I noticed then he was wearing fingerless tan gloves, but the detail wasn't too important so I moved on. "Ready to go?"

"Yup. Lead on, oh great beta tester!" I called jokingly. The group of laughed and left the Starting City, heading for the nearest monster spawning grounds. Once we had found a suitable field, Kirito aggravated a nearby Frenzy Boar and drew it over to us.

"Alright then, guys," Kirito started, settling into his role as our instructor. "First let's see if you can get it on your own. Some people just pick up the Sword Skill system naturally. If you don't get it, I'll go into more detail. Which one of you would like to go first?" He looked over to us, expertly dodging the beginner mob's charges.

Almost mockingly, I raised my hand and entered the field of view for the Frenzy Boar, pulling out my dagger and settling into a combat-ready position, the weapon held in a reverse grip in my right hand. It felt natural for whatever reason, and I shook myself of any concerns to help myself focus solely on the enemy in front of me.

The boar charged, and I smiled, starting a downward stab as I maneuvered myself out of the way. Suddenly, my dagger started glowing a bright blue as the system kicked in to help my aim and my dagger landed square into the boar's back, draining about half its HP gauge. I grinned broadly; it seemed I was one of those people who just got a hang of fighting by myself. I'm sure my extensive real life experience with knives and daggers meant nothing. Nothing at all. I laughed at my internal sarcasm and at the joy of fighting the boar.

"Looks like you've got it, Sarok!" Kirito encouraged me. "Let's let your buddy have a shot, yeah?" I nodded and let Klein replace me as the object of the boar's aggression. My friend, determined not to let me win, only succeeded at getting knocked flat on his back in front of the boar. I sighed and put my head in one hand, chuckling silently at his misfortune.

"What's important is your initial motion input, Klein," Kirito started. I tuned in, curious as to his personal take on the process and never one to turn down a few tips, even if they weren't directed at me at the time. Bending over, Kirito picked up a pebble and threw it to himself, catching it easily. "If you do the initial motion right," he continued, winding back as if to throw the pebble, "and activate a sword skill," the pebble started glowing a light red and my eyes widened, "the system will ensure that you hit your target." While he said this, Kirito lobbed the pebble at the boar. The rock flew through the air with an inhuman speed and slammed into the boar's flank, only taking away a few points of HP.

"How should I put it?" Kirito spoke again, deflecting the boar's attacks with ease. "Add a slight pause, and when you feel the skill begin to activate, drive it home, like 'Bam!'" I laughed outright at Kirito's use of my native language. It wasn't that uncommon a word, it just seemed weird given the circumstances. Klein mumbled a few things to himself and readied himself for his strike as Kirito redirected the boar towards him.

Klein lay his scimitar over his shoulder and waited as the boar drew close. The blade glowed with an orange energy, and as the boar came within range Klein charged forward with a yell, his sword stabbing straight through the mob. His strike finished off the last of the enemy's HP, and it blew up in a blast of harmless blue polygons.

Blankly, Klein stared at the 'Enemy Killed' menu before shouting with glee. I sighed; he probably thought that had been a boss or something. I met Kirito's eyes and rolled my own; he laughed and gestured for me to handle it. "Yo, Klein," I said, catching his attention. "You know that was only an entry-level mob, right? Not a boss or anything? 'Cause if you did that would be pretty stupid."

Klein scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, you see, uh, yeah, I thought… yes. You're right with the second guess." My friend hung his head in shame and I patted him on the back.

"There's no reason to get all bent out of shape, man!" I exclaimed encouragingly. "There's plenty more enemies and bosses alike, and I bet we can reach at least Level 5 by dinnertime!" Klein straightened with his usual smile at my words. Kirito looked on at us with his perfect smirk and I high-fived him. "Ready to go?" I asked, turning to face the monster-filled plains ahead.

"Of course I am! Let's go! I bet we can hit Level 7 at most!" Klein replied enthusiastically, his competitive streak showing itself. Laughing, the three of us sped into the wilderness, eager to strengthen our characters as much as possible in the first few hours to gain an extra edge.

All too soon, it was time for us to log out for the evening. Klein and I had our pizza to eat, and I was excited to see Yuki again. Lounging on the side of a cliff with my friends, I threw an arm over each of their shoulders. "It's about that time, isn't it? Time to go?" Klein's face contorted in realization.

"Oh yeah! Say, Kirito, you mind if Sarok and I friend you? You're a pretty decent dude!" Kirito shifted a bit before nodding. "Awesome! I've got some other friends that I'm hanging out with later if you'd like to join me!" At this point, Kirito visibly fidgeted. It seemed that crowds disagreed with him, even if it _was _only a few people. "Of course, I won't force you. I'll just send you my own request for now, alright?"

Obviously relieved, Kirito nodded and we exchanged messages in the blink of an eye. Once we finished, we said our goodbyes and turned our separate ways. Klein opened the menu to log out first. "What the…" he trailed off and I felt a thread of panic wiggle itself into my heart. Something was clearly wrong. "There's no button to log out." Klein's voice had quieted to a near whisper, and the small thread of panic became larger and more pronounced.

"You must be mistaken," Kirito was skeptical. "There's no way there would be a bug like that! Just open up your menu and navigate to the lower right of the settings…" Kirito stopped speaking, having opened his own menu. "What? That should be impossible!"

"The GMs have to be frantic by now trying to fix it," I said, but I knew I was grasping for straws. "It's just a bug, right? Right?"

"No, it can't be. This is too large not to have come out during testing, and there was nothing like this in the beta. There's something else going on here." Kirito's mutterings unknowingly drove the panic inside me straight to my heart. I sunk to my knees, unfeeling. It _could _just be a bug, but I had a sinking suspicion that something more sinister was going on.

Idly, I heard Klein despairing about his pizza. Suddenly angry, I turned to him. "Klein!" I barked, perhaps a bit too harshly. Given the circumstances, though, I supposed my vehemence was warranted. "The pizza doesn't matter if we're stuck here more than a day. Yuki…" I stopped speaking as the thoughts of my bookish friend filled my mind. Somewhere along the line I noticed Klein had also gone quiet.

Before I knew it, I was being hoisted up from under my arms. I didn't fight the support; I barely even felt it. "Sarok." I heard a voice say my name and my pupils dilated. "Charles!" The sound of my real name startled me into reality again. I blinked and looked around, finding that we were back in the Starting City. In fact, it seemed that every player in the game was gathered around in the spawn area.

"Th – Thanks, Ryō," I stated without much feeling. Kirito glanced at us with a hint of concern, but whatever he was going to say was cut short when the sky turned red with the glow of a system announcement. When a complete dome had formed around us, a viscous red fluid that looked eerily similar to blood seeped out of the ceiling, defying gravity until the flow stopped. Then, a massive red-robed being was formed from the fluid, and it spread its arms to us in a salutation.

"Greetings, players," the figure said, its voice deep and unknown. "My name is Akihiko Kayaba. Welcome to my world." Furious whispers broke out among the crowd as the multitudes wondered if this was an event unique to opening day. "By now many of you have noticed the game lacks a log out button. I'm here to assure you that this is not a bug. In fact, this is a key feature of Sword Art Online!"

Kayaba finished with a flourish, giving us no time to process his words before continuing. "The only way to escape this game – defeat the final boss on the 100th floor. Only then will the system allow you to log out into the real world." Panicked screams burst from the mouths of a few players; in the month the beta had been out, the testers had only managed to reach the 8th floor. It would be years before the 100th floor was reached.

"I'm here not only with the announcement, but also a warning. If you are to die here in this world, the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave in the real one, killing you instantly. Therefore, your life in here will be your reality." At Kayaba's announcement, nothing could stop me from falling to my knees. "The authorities have been notified of the proceedings, and as we speak, your bodies are being transported to hospitals around the country." A tear fell down my cheek.

"Many of you are probably wondering: 'How could Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of Sword Art Online, do such a thing?' Well, I have this to say: My goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason... To create this world and intervene in it. And now, it is complete." The man in front of us – no, the _monster _in front of us – chuckled softly as the players before him reacted to his sickening news.

"243 of your number have already passed beyond the realm of existence. Many more of you will die before this is over. Before I leave you, however, I have gifted you with an item. You will find it in your inventory shortly." Curious despite my despair, I opened up my menu to find an item labeled as Hand Mirror. Blindly, I materialized it, catching it and gazing into it before finding myself enveloped in blue light.

When my sight returned, I found that Kirito's and Klein's avatars had changed in appearance; with a start, I realized that Klein looked the same as he did in real life. Now filled with rage, I stood and shook, facing my friend. "Klein," I muttered. "Are they back? Are they visible?" he knew what I meant, and carefully, my friend turned and met my eyes. His wince let me know that my condition was now visible for all the world to see.

Tears of pure rage filled my eyes as I fought to control my anger. First, that damned developer tried to control my life. Now, he was taking away my freedom of anonymity; now, I could no longer wander freely with a face that was free of unnatural blemishes. I felt a hand rest on my shoulder and found Klein had moved forward; I was hyperventilating.

I took a deep breath and finally wrested control of my anger, pushing it deep into myself. Steeling myself, I faced Kirito, who stared back at me unflinchingly. Shocked, I pointed to my face, then to his. He shook his head without a sound; he really didn't care that I was a freak. With his acceptance, I was finally able to calm the rest of the way down. Kayaba had disappeared after his announcement; the dome stayed until everyone had changed.

"We should go. The mob is going to start soon, and we need to be far away from here before then." I was surprised that my voice held no tremors, but pushed the thought away with a shake of my head. "Klein, find your guild. Things are going to go to hell, and they need you. I'm going to stay with Kirito." My friend was shocked at my suggestion, but I stopped him with a wave of my hand.

"I need to go alone from now on. We're friends in the system; you'll be able to find me from here on out. Don't worry about me. I'm with Kirito, and I grew up on gaming. I _won't _let this one conquer me, do you understand?" Reluctantly, my roommate nodded and ran into the crowd to find his buddies. I turned to Kirito. "Ready?"

"Y – Yeah, let's go. We need to get to the next town by nightfall since the spawning grounds outside of the Starting City are going to be swamped over the next few days. I hope you can keep up with me, Sarok," Kirito's reply made me grin as he turned and sprinted away from the spawn area. I quickly followed him, matching his pace easily.

Once we had made it out of the safe area that was the town, Kirito stopped to get his bearings before shooting in another direction. Shrugging, I continued to follow, staying slightly behind to avoid getting lost or left behind. In front of us, a pair of Dire Wolves spawned, blocking the way with menacing growls.

I glanced at Kirito to see his eyes screwed up in determination. It appeared as though he was deep in thought about the situation we had been thrust into, and I smiled grimly. I was just as committed as he; however, I wasn't much for showing it. I preferred to be quiet and calculating, and silently pulled my dagger as we ran full speed towards the wolves. When we passed, I slammed through my enemy, stabbing it through the eye and consequently the rest of the head while my partner bisected his own.

The wolves had barely slowed us down, and I began to laugh. Despite the enormity of the danger presented to me, I knew somehow that everything would turn out alright. Eventually, we would clear the game and bring our nightmares to an end. It might take years, but I would at some point be able to see Yuki again. I just knew it.


	3. The First Month

_Chapter 2: The First Month_

Kirito and I made it to the next town, Horunka Village, in what had to be record time. When we entered the main part of the town, I checked my clock to see that scarcely forty-five minutes had passed since we had left the Starting City. Once we had stopped moving, Kirito turned to me. "I have a quest to complete while I'm here, since the blade reward will last me three floors due to its strength. The way I see it, you can either join me or go explore and level for a bit. Which would you prefer?"

I thought for a moment. If I simply explored, there was a chance that I would miss out on some experience and cash I could get from the quest. In addition, I could just as easily sell the reward from the quest for a boost in funds. However, if I traveled with my friend as opposed to on my own, I ran the risk of losing the chance for unique pickups and controlled leveling. After a minute of weighing my choices, I responded. "I'll go with you. It'll get me a stable amount of XP, and I can just see the reward for a boost in my Col." Col was the currency in the game, used to buy just about anything.

"Alright, suit yourself. The quest is called Secret Medicine of the Forest, and we can find it in a private home somewhere around here. I don't quite remember where, hold on while I check the local map…" Kirito trailed off and I took the opportunity to examine my surroundings more thoroughly. There were ten buildings scattered throughout the small clearing that was Horunka. Each had wood paneling and a straw-like roof, and I thought the village as a whole looked rather like a quaint little tribal venue.

"Ah, there it is," Kirito said, closing his menu and making his way to one of the buildings, which looked no different than the rest of them. When we entered through the empty arch that acted as a doorway, we found an NPC woman stirring a pot of some inane liquid. She turned and looked at us, signaling to me that I should just listen to Kirito and follow his lead.

"Good evening, journeying swordsman. You must be tired, I do wish to offer you some food, but I do not have any at the moment. All I can give, is a single cup of water or so." The woman spoke, and I assumed that this statement was the opener to the quest.

Kirito responded without missing a beat. "That will be fine." The woman filled an old clay cup with water and placed it on the table in front of him. I knew then that this was an individual quest that couldn't be given to more than one player at a time. Shrugging, I waited to see Kirito's reactions.

After some time had passed, the sounds of a baby or otherwise small child wafted into the kitchen, and a few seconds more of waiting yielded a golden question mark animation over the woman's head. "Is something troubling you?" Kirito asked. He seemed to enjoy getting into the role of the time period and dialect of the woman.

"Actually, journeying swordsman, my daughter was recently stricken with an unknown illness. Even when given medicine from the local market, hence the simmering pot I'm preparing, she has no reaction. I'm afraid that the only way she can ever be healed is through the ingestion of a rare medicine excreted by predatory plants in the forest to the west. Unfortunately, I am unable to perform this task myself, as the plants are very dangerous and the ones who specifically produce this excrement are rarely seen. If you would be able to help, journeying swordsman, I would be so glad as to give you this long sword, which has been passed down my family for generations."

The woman was really selling the story; her face filled with tears in all the right places, and I was astounded at the level of detail that went into the AI for the NPCs. Kirito got up from his seat at the table once she had finished, and he calmly accepted the quest through the menu. After he had, we left the house and he turned to me. "While you go through that mess, I have to run an errand at the blacksmith. I'll pick up a better dagger for you while I'm there. Oh, and be sure to listen to that entire speech. Otherwise you won't be able to accept the quest."

I nodded along with his suggestions, sighing when I heard I'd have to listen to the entire thing again. "I'll meet you at the edge of the forest she spoke of, okay? It shouldn't take either of us too long to finish our errands. Here's the Col for the dagger; I don't know how much it is, so I'll just overestimate a little." Kirito nodded once after I transferred the funds and sped off, presumably towards the blacksmith.

I was right; it didn't take long for me to receive the quest, and I soon found myself standing at the edge of the forest next to Kirito, my eyes trained on the shadows inside it. After he transferred both the dagger and extra Col back to me, I equipped my new weapon to get a feel for it. It was a bit heavy, but its stats suggested a medium critical hit chance and high durability. I gave it an experimental swing to find the range of the Sword Skills from it was longer than the blade itself.

"Are you ready?" My companion asked. He was fidgeting slightly; it appeared as though he was nervous about fighting with another player. Silently, I gestured for him to enter the forest. I would follow and fight where needed.

We crept through the forest in relative ease; before long, an ominous blackness had befallen us. There wasn't much light, and I held up the rear while Kirito constantly scanned our surroundings for enemies. We were looking for a varied species of Little Nepent that would drop the item needed for the quest, and we would likely have to fight off a couple dozen of the little bastards before finding what we wanted.

A few minutes of wandering passed before Kirito acted, holding up a fist and signaling a stop in us. Cautiously I peeked forward to see the reddish cursor of an enemy directly in front of us, maybe 15 meters from our position. Kirito looked back to me and made a few telling gestures; I hopped into a tree and kept over-watch while he engaged the unknown.

Testing myself, I jumped to the next tree over, taking care to stay quiet. After almost falling off the branch when I landed, I fell flat against the trunk of the tree and caught my bearings again, holding my dagger in a reverse grip and peeking around and towards the ground. I had closed a fair amount of distance with my move, and had brought the mob into my sights.

It was a vicious-looking little creature. The Nepent towered higher than its name implied, and I guessed it to be around a meter and a half tall. Its lower body was essentially a writhing mass of vines and leaves I assumed rightly was for movement. Close to where the head of the beast should be was a dripping mouth, snapping open and shut accordingly.

Since the mob had no eyes, I simply dropped down from my position next to my companion. "It's facing away from us. Shall I, or will you?" Kirito gestured me forward; I nodded and approached at maximum speed before flipping over the Nepent. As it turned to face me and bringing down my dagger onto its back.

My weapon's critical hit chance kicked in and I felled the Nepent with only one more slice. After I had collected the experience, Kirito approached and gave me some more information about the enemies. The species we were looking for had a flower blooming on it, and for every other one we killed the chance we would encounter one of these increased. In addition, there were 'trap' Nepenthes, who had fruits growing on them. If, during battle, a fruit was struck from the enemy, it released a pungent fume that attracted all the Nepenthes in the area.

I wrinkled my nose and Kirito chuckled as we moved deeper into the forest. Before long, several more Nepent cursors had popped up, and my friend and I both marked a target to attack before separating. As I sped through the upper half of the forest, I thought about the circumstances that had led me to this point in my life before grinning wickedly. Before this, I realized, I had been the depressed lowlife who was struggling to survive and care for his own health, despite having so many friends and even a full-time job. Now, however, I could finally be free of my real life existence and pursue happiness in the world of swords. Granted, the threat of death was much more… prevalent… but that just made everything more fun!

Several clean kills later, I rendezvoused with Kirito in a small clearing. Neither of us had found a flowered Nepent, but we considered that a small price to pay since we had both leveled up over the course of our battles. Silently, we kept watch for each other as we allocated our skill points into the desired categories. I added the same as my companion since it was so early: 1 point to Strength and 2 to Agility.

Ultimately, my friend would likely go for a half-and-half allocation campaign. I would likely try and split it 80-20 Agility for the maximum speed I could reach while still experiencing a significant damage increase from the Strength stat. It was much too early to tell the difference between our two builds, though.

Just as we were about to move on, a stiff clapping rang through the clearing. Surprised, we jumped and turned towards the sound, weapons ready. A humanoid figure stepped into the open space with us, a smile on its face and its hands held together. I waited for Kirito to put himself at ease before following.

The man was about as tall as the two of us, and seemed to be closer in age to Kirito than myself. Right away, I felt tense around him, as though his smile was somewhat fake. I decided to keep my guard, and nudged Kirito, but he was already distracted by the new arrival. Once he registered the weapons that had been pointing at him until a moment prior, he lowered his head sheepishly.

"S-Sorry about that. I should have called out from the start." The man said, seeming genuine.

Kirito responded before me. "No, us too. Sorry about overreacting."

The boy widened his smile and approached us again. Careful not to let my mistrust show, I leaned up against a tree on the edge of the clearing and tapped my fingers restlessly against the trunk, keeping my hand close to the dagger sheathed on my hip.

"C-Congrats on levelling up. That seemed pretty quick to me."

Kirito's eyes widened slightly; I guessed he was wondering about party members and their tendency to congratulate each other on another level gained. I didn't bother with the pleasantry; I'd rather not waste my breath when the leveling wasn't too significant yet.

"It's not that fast… and if you are going to say that, you're fast too. I thought it would be two or three hours more before anyone reached this forest." My friend replied, stuttering slightly.

"Ahaha, I thought I would be the first to arrive too. The path to get here is rather confusing, after all." Ah. The boy was a beta tester as well. It was easy to see once I thought about it; there was a slight gleam of experience in his eyes that hinted at previous knowledge of the game's workings.

"You're doing it too, right? The Secret Medicine of the Forest quest?" the boy asked, confirming my suspicions on his origin and subsequently raising my level of distrust. It was never a good idea to trust a complete stranger that had more information about upcoming events than you. Granted, I had done the same with Kirito; however, I had met and befriended him before the start of the true Death Game.

Kirito nodded once and the boy grinned again. "Good, the Anneal Blade is quite the indispensable weapon to us one-handed sword users. By the way, who's your friend over by the tree? He looks kind of cagey."

I growled slightly. "My name's Sarok, kid. What's yours? I don't believe you've mentioned that yet." I was being unnecessarily terse with the boy, but I just couldn't shake the feeling of mistrust.

"O-Oh, that's right, I haven't have I? My name's Coper. Since we're all doing the same thing, why don't we group up for a while? Even with just two people, the spawn rate for the flowered Nepenthes will grow even faster with a third player."

When Coper finished his sentence, Kirito stiffened, likely thinking about his decision to leave Klein behind in the Starting City. Sighing wearily, I moved over to my friend and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, no need to get like that. He's not asking to party up, only to form a larger cooperative hunt-and-kill group. You good with that?" Kirito took a deep breath and nodded, squeezing my hand with his own.

"A-Alright, then. Trio, then. My name's Kirito."

"…Kirito… eh, where have I heard that…" Coper trailed off, trying to remember where he had heard my friend's name before. I caught a glimpse of nervousness on Kirito's face; he quickly intervened before Coper could remember too much.

"That was probably someone else. Come on, let's go." We headed out of the clearing back into the darkness of the woods. With a quick thumbs up, I scaled up into my position atop the trees, following my partners from above and keeping watch for mobs beyond their line of sight as we trekked through the relative murkiness of the forest.

Killing the Nepenthes became so routine that I found my thoughts wandering as I plunged down again and again from my perch to kill an enemy from where my friend and his companion couldn't see or defend from. Soon over two hundred of the little bastards had fallen, and our group had collectively gained nine levels; to the point where each of us was standing strong at level 5.

Leveling worked a lot slower than we had originally thought. Experience came in smaller quantities that made it difficult to power-level through it all. However, the fruits of our battles were clearly visible when it came down to it; a difference was could finally be seen between Kirito and my builds. I had allocated a total of seven points to Agility and two to Strength whereas Kirito had added five and four to keep things roughly even. As a result, I was slightly faster than my friend, though my hits had a bit less oomph. Thankfully, the critical hit chance on my dagger pulled through, keeping me even with the looming wall of skill and strength Kirito possessed.

After a bit more fighting, we came to a clearing with a lone Nepent inside of it; though there were a few cursors just in range in the forest behind it. With a grin, the members of our little group turned to each other: the mob had a distinctly red flower atop its head, and we were wholly prepared to complete the first stage of the quest.

Cautiously, Kirito and Coper crept into the clearing. Keeping watch from a tree near th edge, I noticed when my friend stopped and pointed to the other side, where there was a fruit-laden trap Nepent patrolling the opposite edge of the clearing. I frowned when the two separated, Coper heading to distract the trap and Kirito heading straight for the flowered Nepent. I knew something fishy was going on.

It didn't take too long for Kirito to take out the flowered one, getting an extremely rare _two _drops from the monster. He called out to Coper and I noticed with some extreme alarm that the expression on the new boy's face held some pity for Kirito. "Sorry, Kirito," he said, before executing a Vertical Sword Skill directly onto the fruit of the Nepent.

I cursed; I knew I shouldn't have trusted Coper, but went along with Kirito since the boy was the first beta tester we had met. As a loud, explosive sound shook the forest around us with the bursting of the fruit, I was dislodged from my position and fell to the ground in a heap. Rushing to Kirito's side, I grabbed his shoulder and yelled in his ear.

"We need to go, now! From what you've told me, that sound means something very, _very _bad is coming!" Kirito shook himself and nodded. We turned to run but had to stop suddenly at the vast number of red cursors filling our vision. There were easily thirty of the bastard creatures surrounding us; too many to possibly fight at once. Idly, I noticed Coper's figure shimmer and disappear in the telltale activation of a player's Hiding skill.

"Fuck!" I cursed again, this time at an inappropriate volume. "Fuck, fuck, fuck. This kid's trying to kill us. Dammit Kirito, why'd we have to go with him? Oh yeah, right, it was my idea. Fuck me and my stupid fucking plans."

Still cursing up a storm, I pulled my dagger from its sheath and picked up a rock from the ground, snapping a system-assisted throw to the last position at which I had seen Coper. Lucky for my assumption, he was still there, and the impact of the rock forcefully deactivated his hidden status just as the first wave of Nepenthes came into the clearing.

I nodded in Kirito's direction and darted off to the side of the wave in front of us since the Nepenthes behind us were bound to agro onto Coper instead. Since he was trying to MPK us, I saw no reason to protect him. Dashing off into the fray of predatory plants, I flipped my dagger into a reverse grip once more and flew with a battle cry directly into one of the foul creatures, knocking it over.

Quickly, I struck the killing blow and moved on, dodging through the sharp thrusts and poisonous blasts of the other mobs with ease. I sliced through another two enemies with a simple Spin move, moving faster with my arms pulled close before lashing out in two controlled jabs through the creature's stalks, cleaving them in two despite the length of my weapon barely reaching their diameter.

Dodging again, I grit my teeth when I felt a vine stab through my left shoulder; I turned and grabbed it, pulling myself towards its owner with a yell and stabbing it several times after switching the grip on my weapon. Once it was dead, I turned to face the others and was shocked to see the spread of destruction Kirito had wrought. While I struggled to fight off even five of the little bastards, he had killed double that, and was still going strong. I set my mouth into a thin line and cracked my neck. It was time to catch up.

Ten, twenty, twenty-five kills registered as I tore through the ranks of the waves of Nepenthes. Coper had long since fallen to the plants' force, and Kirito and I had but a few more enemies to eliminate before we were alone again. My HP was hovering about the mid-yellow range close to red, and a glance at Kirito told me he was in the same position, but we weren't about to give up so close to the end.

With a screamed cry, the two of us charged the last remaining mobs and killed them, leaving us bleeding digital squares in an empty field, the only remains of Coper his abandoned items on the ground. I walked over and spat on the spot where he died. "Serves you right, kid. You made the ultimate mistake and paid the price for your stupidity. Good luck in the afterlife." I felt no remorse at the kid's death.

Kirito walked over and picked up the kid's sword, admiring it slightly before thrusting it into the roots of the largest tree and murmuring something. I presumed he was only paying his respects to a fallen comrade and waited against another tree for him to finish. When he strode up to me, I met his gaze with a small frown. "Ready to go?" I asked. He nodded, and the pair of us dashed into the darkness again, back to Horunka Village.

When we arrived at the small settlement, it was already semi-populated with players. It certainly didn't take long for them to reach the place. Kirito and I ignored them for the most part, heading to the private house to drop off our items and pick up the rewards. Once we had completed the quest, I noticed Klein and a group of his friends leaning against the wall to the blacksmith. I muttered to Kirito that I was going to sell the sword and he nodded, setting off in search of the best spot to rest for the night.

It didn't take me too long to sell the sword, fetching me a fair amount of Col. I met Klein outside, not bothering to use his screen name since I recognized the appearance of all his friends. "Hey, Ryō." I greeted, making him jump in place. "How's it going with Fuurinkazan?" My roommate grinned sheepishly at me before grasping my hand in a firm handshake.

"It's goin' well, Charles. Or should I call you Sarok?" I laughed at my friend's antics. "You here with Kirito? Where is the big oaf?" I told him that we were heading out and Kirito would likely be unable to see him. It was a bald-faced lie, but I got the feeling the Kirito wouldn't exactly be happy to see Klein right now.

"Ah, a shame, a shame. Hey, care to meet the rest of us?" I laughed. I already knew all of them since they were regulars in our place alongside Yuki. "Ah, yeah, I suppose you already know them. No matter, no matter. Hey! That's right, I meant to tell you. Stay in touch, alright, Sarok?" Klein got deathly serious and I eased my expression. Nodding, I held my hand up in a three-fingered salute of goodbye before sprinting in the direction of my partner.

The rest of the month worked a hell of a lot like the first half. Kirito and I would get to a new city prior to most of the other players, clear the quests, buy and sell equipment, and move on. Soon enough, all of the major towns had been discovered on the first floor, and clearing teams were being informally organized to comb the Labyrinth of the floor for the first boss.

Unfortunately, no such thing was found, and over 2,000 players had died since the start of our search. Now our population had shrunk to the size of an American liberal arts college, and I scoffed at the situation. It was disgusting, what Kayaba had done to us.


	4. The Second Floor

_Chapter 3: The Second Floor_

_Finally, some results, _I thought, having found myself in an amphitheater for a boss meeting at last. It had taken us ages to find it, but apparently the party in charge of this meeting stumbled across the boss room a day and a half prior. We would have had the planning session earlier, but there were some discrepancies with finding an easily accessible city to meet at for all the interested clearers.

Kirito and I took one look at the notification signaling the event and grinned as one. We had gotten to know each other quite a bit in our travels, and we began to fight as a single entity as opposed to two separate players. The trust between us was ironclad, and we were excited to see the end of our stay on the first floor.

The meeting was to be held in Tolbana, a town central to the operations of most of the clearing parties. Lucky for my partner and me, we were already close to that location, and without further delay we set out in its direction. After only two hours' worth of sprinting, we made it to the outskirts of the Safe Zone surrounding the town. Quickly, we headed towards one of the inns to reserve a room for the night before the majority of the players reached the area.

"One room or two?" I asked cheekily. Kirito sighed and slugged my arm; I laughed. "Two it is, then, ya ruffian. How do you want to go about the rest of our afternoon till the meeting?"

"The usual. I'll head out for some hunting, you check out the wares of the locals and purchase whatever you think is useful. Argo is bound to be around here by now, maybe you can scout her out and get some more info on this so-called 'meeting'." I nodded and paid for my reservation. When the two of us exited the inn, we split in two, Kirito heading for the wilderness to power-level some more while I browsed the NPC/player-run shops and businesses for something to catch my eye.

Argo the Rat, as she was known, was an information dealer notorious for being able to find _anything _out about _anyone_. She was truly a tier above the others of her kind, and had firmly established herself as the go-to for pretty much anything. However, Argo made it a point to charge rather ridiculous prices for info, and if you didn't know how to haggle you'd find yourself shit out of money for just about nothing important info-wise.

Since we were as kitted equipment-wise as we could be under the circumstances of being on the first floor, I made my way towards the nearest general store to browse their crystals. Kirito and I had ground out thousands of Col from the monsters we killed to level and the quests that we completed, so I could afford just about anything.

Unfortunately, nothing really caught my eye, so I sighed and made my way to the location marked by Kirito on my map. The site doubled as both Argo's meeting place in the town and the place I would meet Kirito after he was done hunting. Once I reached the coordinates, I pulled up my menu and scribbled a message to my broker acquaintance.

"Ah, if it isn't Sarok. Your boyfriend around anywhere? Did he break up with you?" I chuckled at the greeting; Argo had always teased Kirito and me about being as close and trusting as we were for two guys.

"You know that'll cost you, Argo. Your rules are my rules when we meet. Maybe a kiss on the cheek this time?" Of course, we both knew that wasn't going to happen, just as we both knew I was a firm heterosexual. "Anyway, what you got for me on this meeting? I'll pay you the usual, plus a bonus for any extra juiciness you can bring to my attention."

"How about twice the fee for that topic since it's so hot right now? You've swindled me enough as it is." I frowned; double the fee weighed in around 3,000 Col, or around half my wallet. However, I was being a bit charitable this time since we were so close to real progress at last.

"One point five times the usual and a fixed bonus of 500 Col. I'll even throw in a kiss on your cheek from me, huh? How about it?" I threw in the last part to be cheeky; although the broker was cute under that hood of hers, we were only friends in the business, and I felt no attraction to the girl.

"Deal. What's first on your list? The guys behind it, the potential trouble-makers, or the tester status of anyone?" I grinned; if I were to pick one of them, she'd only charge me for the others since I considered the one mentioned to be more important.

"You know me better than that. Give it all to me straight, from what you've said that isn't even the juicy part. How about some info about the boss itself? It'd be nice to have a bit of an edge." I had made my bargain, and I knew full well she would be able to pull through on her end. She wouldn't be true to her reputation otherwise.

"Alright, alright. You got me, just the same as usual. Speaking of, where's that kiss?" I laughed again, bending down and laying a quick peck on the girl's right cheek. "Thanks, Rok. So, onto the important stuff as usual. Leader of this meeting's name is Diabel. He's a beta tester like Kirito and myself, didn't make much of a name for himself though. He's a good man and a better leader, no one to worry about. Assuming everything goes alright, you'll pull through this fight with minimum casualties."

"Next up, troublemakers. Heard some loudness from the Kibaou player. He's totally against beta testers and believes that they don't share much info with the 'common newcomers' like him and his friends. He's pretty charismatic, in a brutal sort of way, so chances are high he'll turn against Kirito pretty fast when he learns of his status. Be careful."

"Hmm, nothing else to really report there, so I'll move on to the boss. It's called Illfang the Kobold Lord. There are some secondary targets in the form of the Ruin Kobold Sentinels. On their own they aren't too bad but they come at the same time as Illfang, so things can be a pain from what I've heard."

"As far as the boss itself goes, he's easy to read pattern-wise, but when he gets cut down to around a bar of health he switches weapons. In the beta, he switched to a talwar, but there's no way of telling if that's changed or not. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that Kayaba would have changed the game so we couldn't rely as much on prior knowledge. Tell Kirito to be careful. You too, of course, but he's more likely to get cocky."

Argo finished her speech with the usual suggestions on where to armor up before leaving. Despite being kind of friends, we didn't talk much beyond our usual meetings in the towns, and even when we did it was only an exchange of information. It wasn't too rare to see a bit of lighthearted flirting in the start of whatever talk we were having, but all of it played into our little cat-and-mouse game of haggling.

Kirito found me soon after Argo left. I relayed the info our mutual broker had told me as we made our way to the inn we had rented at. He nodded along and asked me for my opinion on all of it.

"Diabel seems like an all-around good guy, so I'd trust him if Argo says not to worry. My biggest concern is this Kibaou character. Since I don't do much talking outside our circles, I get the feeling that I won't be able to destabilize the guy. Be careful about him, and don't give anything up. Got it? Good. Other than that, Illfang should be easy for the two of us to handle. I've gotten pretty good at reading patterns, and you've got some massive DPS."

Kirito laughed at my analysis. "Sounds good to me, Sarok. Think we'll see Klein?" I thought for a moment before nodding. There was no way he would miss this, and his guild Furinkazan was pretty damn strong. "Mmh. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow, yeah? We'd better get our rest." I nodded again and we parted ways, having finally made it back to the inn.

*BZZT*! *BZZT*! The in-game alarm I had set for myself went off, waking me up without fail. After all, it was a bit hard to ignore the blaring of something as annoying as that when it was _inside _your head. I guess that was one of the perks to being trapped inside a virtual reality. Groggily, I sat up and glanced at the time; when I saw it was well before eight in the morning I groaned loudly.

Sighing, I re-equipped my armor and weapons and headed downstairs to meet Kirito. When he saw me, he grinned at my haggard appearance and I punched him, only serving to make him laugh before throwing an arm over my shoulder.

"Oi, let's go Kirito. Wouldn't want to miss this meeting that's not for another _TWO HOURS!_ Remind me why we had to get there so damn early again?"

"It's only because this way we can scout out the players as they arrive and maybe get a word in with Diabel before the meeting, you know that! It was your idea, too, if you'd just get that through your thick skull!" I groaned, flipping my middle finger in his direction and earning me my own punch in the arm.

It was at this point that I ran myself right into the torso of another player, knocking me right down on my ass. Sighing, I grabbed the hand held out to help me up and prepared to apologize before I saw the face of my assistant. "Oh, hey, Agil, how you doing? You here for the meeting too?"

"What, you aren't going to apologize, Sarok?" Agil replied, chuckling deeply to soften the blow. "Nice to see you're still alive, though I'm not all that surprised considering you have Yuki on the other side to look forward to seeing again…" I blushed slightly and kicked him in the shin where I wasn't as protected by his casual armor.

"Shut up! We're only friends! And besides, I can't exactly do anything about when we're stuck in this damned game, can I?"

"So you admit you feel something for you, eh? Well, no matter I suppose, you do have a point. We _are _stuck here, after all. Referring to your previous question, yeah I'm here for the meeting and subsequent raid. It'll be nice to get off this measly first floor; there isn't anything good to sell." My friend frowned and I laughed good-naturedly.

Kirito looked between us in confusion. Deciding to put him out of his misery, I introduced him to the barkeep. "Agil, I'd like you to meet Kirito, my boyfriend. Kirito, this is Agil, we know each other in real life." I threw an arm around Kirito's waist and groped his ass, making him recoil in shock and revulsion. Agil only laughed at Kirito's predicament, having experienced the same thing when I first brought Klein to his café.

"Oi, we're not dating! And you have this 'Yuki' from what I hear, huh Sarok? Would she approve of your cheating on her with me?" I blinked at the ridiculousness of the situation.

"Uh, Kirito, you never said you were against a relationship between us…" I was only acting worried, but he didn't need to know that since my entire goal was to fuck with him. I had precious little care for personal space and homosexuality never crossed my mind as something I would be interested in, so I made jokes about it. Everything would be so much better if society just accepted the damn thing already; people can't help what they're attracted to.

Kirito blushed heavily and stammered something about finding us a seat before scurrying off as far away from us as possible. I turned to Agil. "Say, Andy, if I were to kiss him in front of Argo, how much money you think we'd make off the rumor-mongers?"

"Probably at least a hundred thousand Col. Why do you ask? Thinking of doing it?" I shrugged; while it would be a good source of money, I don't think Kirito would appreciate his first kiss being from me. I sighed; alas, I might have to go for a simple kiss on the cheek.

"You _are¸_ aren't you? You're a weird one, Charlie. A weird one indeed." I shrugged again, my smile breaking out into its final form as an insane grin. I laughed madly, winking at Agil's form. "Damn you, just don't involve me, will you?" I nodded and rubbed my hands together in glee. This was going to be a marvelous ploy.

Agil and I talked for a while, but eventually I made my way over to where Kirito had found us spots, near the top with a good vantage point on any of the trouble makers Argo had mentioned. Soon enough, the rest of the amphitheater had filled up, bringing me to my current standings.

A man with shocking blue hair eventually stood at the front and cleared his throat, leading to silence all around. "Greetings," he said. "My name is Diabel, and a party has been said to have found the boss room in the Labyrinth." At this, furious whisperings broke out and I face-palmed. It was as if people hadn't heard that already.

"Be quiet, please! Unless, of course, you'd only like to socialize and stay on the first floor forever?" The sarcasm was evident in Diabel's voice, and I grinned at its effectiveness in shutting everyone up. "Thank you. Now, in this game, when we rolled the dice on the jobs we would each have, I ended up with the role of knight!" Diabel finished with a flourish. I sighed; that kind of quip didn't even deserve a chuckle.

After the laughter died down, he continued. "Anyways, on to the important information. Upon completing our scouting session of the boss room and consulting with some local information brokers, it has been determined that it would be impossible to have a single party go against the boss. Therefore, I have called this meeting to discuss our next steps."

"First things first: I need the lot of you to split into teams of three to six based on your STR-AGI spread. Before I continue any further, it's important that you do this. This way, the roles can be assigned early on without any added confusion. Understand? Good. Now go make friends."

Diabel finished speaking, so I beckoned Agil over to where Kirito and I were. "Agil, you're a loner, right? How about teaming up with us lover boys?" Kirito blushed again, causing the other two of us to laugh uncontrollably. Soon after we calmed down, Agil had to shake his head.

"Sorry man, no can do. I'm with Klein and that group of ruffians over there." He nodded to Furinkazan. "Why don't you try the player with the cloak on the other side of your bench? They look pretty lonely to me; could probably use a friend."

I turned my gaze to the aforementioned player, studying them for a moment. I noticed the downturned face, the hunched back, and the slight shaking of the shoulders and smiled softly. "Yeah, that sounds good to me. Come one, Kirito, let's go cheer up the girl over there." With that, I made a few long strides forward, pulling ahead of my friend. "Thanks for the tip, Agil."

"Wha- How do you know it's a girl?" Kirito asked, flustered. I shrugged, causing him to groan in annoyance, but we only continued to the player. I sat on one side of her and Kirito sat on the other. Once we were situated, I threw an arm over their shoulder and pulled them up gently.

"Yo. My name's Sarok, this is Kirito. Wanna group up with us?" I said softly. Cautiously, the player turned to look me in the eyes, and I saw I was correct in my assumption about gender. She looked startled, as if I had interrupted her train of thought, and I sighed before removing my arm. "It's alright, I'm not here to hurt you. I didn't mean to startle you, we just need a third for our party."

"S-Sure," the girl replied shakily. I smiled reassuringly, and she continued after a moment's hesitation. "M-My name is Asuna. Nice to meet you, Sarok. You too, Kirito." My grin grew wider and I held out my hand for a shake while opening my menu and shooting our new friend a party invite. Asuna and I shook and I leaned to the side to smirk at Kirito.

"This is why you should leave the talking to me, boyfriend. It's obvious you just don't know how to handle a girl as beautiful as this one." Kirito blushed, but he couldn't hit me for fear of getting Asuna caught in the crossfire. "Oh, Asuna, don't worry, I'm het all the way, though I'm not too sure about pretty boy over there." My smirk grew wider when Asuna giggled softly at my prodding.

"Good to see you've cheered up. Now, shall we pay attention? It looks as though Diabel is preparing to continue," Kirito finally spoke up, useful for once and without a noticeable stutter. I caught his eye and winked before we faced forward, tilting my head towards Asuna slightly. He blushed harder and shook his own head unconvincingly, but I only laughed silently as Asuna looked on confused.

Diabel raised a hand for silence, and unsurprisingly the scattered groups of players listened to him. However, I was rather surprised when one stood and made his way to the front, shooing Diabel out of the way with little ceremony. My eyes narrowed and I crossed my arms under my chin to observe what was to come.

"Yo! My name's Kibaou, and before we go any further, some of you have to apologize!" I snorted softly; no doubt he was speaking of the beta testers, and I was looking forward to the storm that would follow his words. I snuck a glance over to Kirito to see a look of anxious tension on his face; it seemed he had reached the same conclusion as me.

"Surely you mean the ex-beta testers, Kibaou?" Diabel chimed in, and my eyes narrowed further, scrutinizing the man's character. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but even _he _had to see the shit storm coming from Kibaou's next words.

"Of course I do! A whole 2,000 of us have up and died since entering this hell, and _all _of those deaths were preventable! Right from the start of the game, the beta testers rushed out from the Starting City to take all the best spawns and all the most profitable quests, without a care in the world to us helpless players! They only care for themselves, and I've seen friends die before my eyes thanks to their meddling! So if any of you fucks are out there, come up and drop all that gear you've squandered from the weak players! That should be apology enough!"

Kibaou finished his rant, and I snarled in his direction, about to get up and tell him where he could put it, especially since Kirito had shrunk so far into his seat at the foul man's words. However, Agil beat me to it, and descended to Kibaou's level with a severe look on his face.

"Kibaou, was it?" Uncertain, the man nodded, and Agil pulled a book from his inventory. "My name is Agil, and you received a copy of this book before you left the Town of Beginnings, yes?" Kibaou paled slightly at Agil's imposing figure before nodding again. "Then surely you know that this was _written _by the beta testers you hold in such contempt. It contains the knowledge of all the 'best spawns and most profitable quests' and copies were distributed to the players as best as possible before the left the Town of Beginnings. Since you've received one, you knew this, right?"

Kibaou cowered and opened his mouth to retort before closing it just as quickly at Agil's glare. My snarl turned into a vengeful smirk at his reaction, and I nodded slightly to my friend on the floor, not caring if he noticed me or not. I turned to Kirito and found he had relaxed accordingly, so I eased my expression into a reassuring one when I met his eyes, calming him enough to release his remaining tension into the air.

"Thank you, Agil," Diabel spoke up again, somehow calm and friendly again despite what had happened. I ignored his description of the boss as I had already heard it, taking the time instead to let my gaze wander among the other participants of the raid. I picked out Kibaou's faction easily, studying the way their postures leaned slightly towards the coward's. That could be a problem later if I wasn't careful.

My studies of the other players came to a halt when the meeting adjourned. I hadn't noticed Diabel had stopped speaking before I felt the tap on my shoulder from Kirito; I stood and thanked him with a murmur, still half-focused on what little info I had gleaned and the ramifications of any plan of attack against the boss.

While I was still in thought, I found myself led back to the main square in Tolbana. I had thankfully regained enough sense to casually converse with the other players, and I bid Kirito and Asuna adieu for a little while to go search for information and get opinions. I stopped next to Klein first. "Hey, Ryō," I said, alerting him to my identity. "How's it going? Looking forward to some progress for once?"

"Oh, hey, Charles! Yeah, it's about time too. Say, have you seen Kirito? I wanted to tell him not to worry about leaving me a month ago." I shook my head; I knew that Kirito wouldn't believe Klein until the bitter end that it was alright he had left. "A shame. Anyways, I'm pretty angry about the Kibaou guy, singling out all the beta testers like that."

"Yeah, he's going to be a pain. I have to make the rounds after I finish here, so I'll keep this brief, Ryō. After the boss, be prepared for a second fight. I'm anticipating some trouble from his faction." My friend and roommate nodded solemnly, and I departed from his presence, heading for Agil.

Once I had reached the large man, I found him conversing with my final errand of the night, Diabel. Glad I had caught the two together, I waited for them to finish their talk before stepping in politely. "Diabel, Agil," I greeted cordially. "Diabel," I pointed my gaze at the abnormally blue-haired man. "You were a beta tester, weren't you?" Though my statement was worded as a question, I was careful to make sure it sounded more like a statement of fact than anything else.

Diabel sighed in resignation. "How did you figure it out?" he asked curiously. I shrugged and pointed out his gait and seeming overconfidence. "Fair enough. What of it?"

"I get the feeling Kibaou is going to make a move after the boss fight. I trust that you know what kind of fire you're playing with, but do be careful. It'd be a damned shame to lose a fighter like you." The man thanked me for my advice and departed, leaving me to speak with my barkeep acquaintance. "Andy. I need to know if you're on my side if the situation with Kibaou develops further."

"You know I am, Charles. There's no need to worry about me, I'll support you and Kirito no matter where we are or what convoluted situation you cook up for us." I smirked and tipped my proverbial hat to him before saying my goodbyes and heading back to the corner of the square where Kirito and Asuna were seated.

"Kirito. Asuna." I stated by way of another greeting. "How are you two doing?" Asuna had her face turned to the ground, and I caught the glint of a virtual tear falling from her eye. My eyes softened imperceptibly and I walked up to her, pulling her into a hug brazenly. "Hey, it's alright. We'll be back in the real world before you know it. For now, you have to remember that this is reality for the time being. I'm sure Kirito's told you already, but you can't forget to _live, _in place of merely _surviving._"

An indeterminate amount of time passed before Asuna pushed me away lightly. "Thanks, Sarok, Kirito. I was about to give up, but you two saved me again. I'll be sure to give it my all tomorrow." I nodded with a bright smile on my face, meeting her eyes, which were still obscured slightly by the cloth hood she wore.

"Alright then, I'm off to bed. I'm just about wiped. Kirito, I trust you can lead this one back to her room for the night?" My friend nodded in reply with a determined look and I saluted with my class three finger wave, making an about face and breaking into a light jog towards the inn where I had rented my room, eventually making my way to bed after setting the usual alarms and fading into the realms of virtual sleep.

*BZZT!* This time, I shot awake instantly, out of breath for whatever reason and slamming my hand down on empty air to try and turn off the alarm I kept on my side desk. Unfortunately, since I was in a game, the alarm had rung in my head only, and the act unbalanced me enough to make me fall off the bed.

I groaned from my position on the floor, cursing my stupid dreams of reality while fighting to hold back the tears from the seeming hopelessness of my situation. It didn't work, and I found myself sobbing silently at lost opportunities before long. I cursed Kayaba, I cursed my gaming addiction, but most of all I cursed the fact that I wouldn't be able to see Yuki for some ridiculous amount of time.

Belatedly, I realized I had developed feelings beyond those of a friend or sibling for the girl, and I cried at the feeling that I wouldn't get to express them to her. As it was, her very visage was fading from my mind, though her voice remained, my last string of remembrance to attach to the girl who had so captivated me.

After a few minutes, I calmed myself down enough to get up, not for the first time glad that no one could tell I had been crying. Since we lived in such a world as this now, where death was around every corner, some despair in one's eyes was to be expected. Solemnly, I exited my room and closed the door, checking out with the NPC innkeeper and meeting Kirito at the entrance to the inn.

"Good morning," he said, taking in my haggard appearance with a practiced eye. "Rough night?" I snorted, forcing a slight smile onto my face, though it didn't quite reach my eyes.

"Understatement of the century, right there. Remembering Yuki, and wondering if I'll ever see her again. Let's get out of here fast, eh, Kirito?"

"Yeah, let's. Ready to go beat Illfang?" I steeled my gaze and nodded, and the pair of us headed to the predetermined rendezvous for the boss raid. Once we arrived, we met up with Asuna, who seemed more cheerful than she had been the previous night.

About half an hour passed before the entire group had assembled, and once we had, Diabel gave the usual pep talk and led us into the wilderness towards the Labyrinth. It was a long walk, but since we had so many capable fighters the mobs around the area were a piece of cake to kill if they dared agro to us.

At long last, the raiding party reached the entrance to the Labyrinth, and Diabel shared the map data with the group, marking the boss room with a waypoint before leading us in. Kirito, Asuna, and I were in the back of the group, a slightly awkward air between us for some reason.

"S-Sarok?" Asuna finally asked, her voice soft and questioning. I raised my eyes and glanced over to left where she was walking.

"What's up, Asuna? Something the matter?" she nodded uncertainly before continuing.

"I don't mean to be rude, but what are the veins on and around your face? If you weren't so friendly, they'd be a bit off-putting, and I'm pretty sure they aren't painted that way. Do you really look like that in real life?" I sighed and felt along the marks subconsciously.

"Yeah, I understand. I was born with some obscure out-of-the-blue medical condition that gave me these. It's been a real pain in the ass making friends all my life, but I've managed well enough. I met people like Klein and Agil, Kirito, and even you. You don't care for my appearance because of how I act. Some people can't get over my face, though, no matter how friendly I am." _And Yuki, _I appended silently.

"That sounds awful!" Asuna exclaimed quietly in response to my explanation. I smiled at her muted enthusiasm for my situation, and touched her palm in thanks.

Unfortunately for our conversation, the group reached the entrance to the boss room at that point. We already knew our responsibilities, so I didn't bother listening to Diabel's pep talks, deciding instead to examine the doors to the room. They were massive, and etched upon them was a vast design of rough lines and shapes that had no seeming elegance or pattern. Idly I wondered if the entrances would get more intricate as the floors grew in number.

Before I knew it, the party had rushed into the boss room and the doors shut themselves behind us. We found ourselves in a long cathedral-like hall with tinted glass windows and torch lighting. All things considered, the room was quite beautiful. At the other end of the hall, a towering figure stood. When the clang sounded behind us, signaling the close of the doors, the figure roared as four health bars came into being next to its head and the Ruin Kobold Sentinels spawned around it.

_Illfang the Kobold Lord, _I thought grimly, though with some measure of excitement. _Time for the first battle. _Without realizing, a mad grin crept onto my face, and I chuckled as the group of enemies charged at our party. Kirito, Asuna, and I separated from the main group with six others, acting as interference against the Sentinels while the majority of the players charged Illfang.

Kirito and I took the first move against our three opponents, Kirito taking on two of the Sentinels with his high STR stat while I took one. He tore through their health in relative ease while I dodged and weaved around the creature, taking potshots at the weak spots with a flash of my dagger, switching holds every so often to take a better swing.

Slash, slash, stab. Dodge. Slide around the back, stab, slash. My movements adopted a pattern, and when I saw my health eventually dip into the yellow I called "Switch!" and Asuna took my place. Stepping back, I applied a healing crystal, waiting with bated breath as my HP climbed back into the green, stopping halfway between yellow and full. When Kirito tapped out, I took his place, changing tactics as if to use the Kobolds' own weapons against them.

Suddenly, I found my dagger swishing through the open air. Blinking, I looked around to find that all the Sentinels were dead, and I shrugged. The blood lust hadn't left yet, but lucky for me there was still a bigger fish to gut. I turned around to see Kirito and Asuna already facing Illfang, and we watched as the boss's health dropped to the last bar.

As expected, all fighting ceased when the massive mob roared, sheathing its weapon and pulling another from its hip. Kirito's and my eyes widened when we saw the shape; that was _not _what had been described in the book. Although I was expecting a change in the pattern, the rest of the party, including Diabel, still looked ready to charge. "NO! DON'T!" The two of us called in unison, shouting to the players.

Most of them paused, but Diabel turned to us and smiled softly, nodding ever so slightly. I cursed; he was going to sacrifice himself and hope Kirito would take control, but I knew that Kibaou would only take advantage of the situation to turn my friend and me into social pariahs for our yells.

Diabel charged to meet Illfang with a yell, only to get cut down brutally. His limp body was knocked back to Kirito, Asuna, and I, and my friend knelt down at once, finally realizing that Diabel was a tester. I let them have their moment as Diabel burst into crystals, an ugly snarl coming onto my face as I twirled my dagger.

Meeting Asuna's eyes, I shared a meaningful exchange with her before rushing forward with a growl, switching the dagger to a reverse grip tight to my body for speed as I rushed towards the boss. Asuna trailed behind me slightly, her rapier drawn and in position for contact with the boss's skin, and when we reached Illfang we moved as one, slicing our way up the monster. When we reached the top of our respective shoulders, we kicked off and flipped out of the way of Kirito, who charged in to finish the monstrosity.

Kirito screamed as he tore through the rest of Illfang's health, though it didn't seem as though he realized he was doing so. It was a sound of defiance and rage against the situation we had all found ourselves in, and a sound of sorrow for those poor souls who have already fallen prey to the world. I sighed wearily as Asuna and I rested from our lunges; only a month, and I was already tired of this existence and the stresses it wrought.

Suddenly, it was over. Kirito had fallen to the ground after striking the final blow against the boss, and the room was silent as the congratulations message filled the empty space before every player. A moment passed, and the raiding party broke into cheers and jubilations. Kirito turned to Asuna and me with a grim look, one we shared. This measly win wasn't without cost.

Agil made his own way over to our little group. "Nice job, Kirito," he said, arms on his hips. "That was splendid swordsmanship." The group quieted down to listen as my friend tried to deny the victory. Sure, I understood why he did so; he probably couldn't get the startling death of the previous raid leader out of his head, but even I knew that would only cause trouble for all of us.

As I predicted, it didn't take long for the other shoe to drop. Even as the other players started clapping for Kirito's victory, a shout was heard above the rest of the crowd, a cry of anguish, confusion, and rage. "Why?!" The crowd turned to look back behind it, and I saw that the disturbance was caused by none other than Kibaou. "Why… Why did you let Diabel die?" I winced.

"Let him die?" Kirito nearly murmured, slightly puzzled. I grimaced; this was not going to go well, and in such an emotionally charged atmosphere there was little I could do in the way of damage control.

"Of course!" Kibaou cried from his position, cross-legged on the floor. "You knew what technique the boss would use! If you'd given us that information up front, he wouldn't have died!" I sighed deeply in a futile attempt to quell the rising rage within me at the foul man's words.

Mutinous mutterings filled the rest of the party. Kirito had his head half-turned to the man while the rest of us – Klein included, as he had just reached us from the crowd – simply faced Kibaou, forming a wall of sorts in case things got too out of hand.

"He must be an ex-beta tester!" a voice cried, starting up the rest of the mob. "That's how he knew about the boss's attack patterns. He knew, but he kept it from us! There's got to be others here too, right? Those beta testers! Come out!"

"I'm not…"

"Are you one?"

Muttered question and answers filled the hall. Agil and Asuna glanced about, tense, before pushing through to Kibaou. Kirito gulped as if finally realizing the weight of the situation, and I crouched next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Whatever happens, whatever they call you, I'm on your side. Remember that, Kirito," I whispered into his ear, waiting for him to nod before standing again.

I made my way over to my other friends, almost there when a dangerous laugh was heard behind me. It was sickening, a terribly hopeless sound, but I knew at an instant it came from Kirito. I whirled around and caught his eye, holding a silent conversation before frowning severely and pulling myself back. As loathe as I was to admit it, my friend knew what he was doing, and he was fully prepared to become a pariah for the sake of the other beta testers.

"An ex-beta tester, did you say?" Kirito's voice rang out in the silence, tinted with dark amusement. "I wish you wouldn't compare me to those newbies."

"W-What?" Kibaou stuttered.

"Most of the 1,000 people who won SAO beta test slots were beginners who didn't even know how to level up," my companion continued, walking through the throng of players confidently. "Even you guys are better than them. But I'm not like those guys. During the beta test, I made it to higher levels than anyone else was able to reach. The reason I knew about the boss's sword skills was because I fought tons of monsters with those skills on floors far above us."

"I know lots of other things too," Kirito looked down, a cruel smirk on his face as he glared – no, sneered at Kibaou. "Way more than any information broker."

"W-What?" Kibaou asked haltingly, sounding almost afraid of my long-time partner. "That's… That's way worse than a beta tester! That's cheating! You're a cheater. That's what you are! Yeah, a cheater!"

The mutiny that was behind all of us worked its magic, and a new term was coined. "He's a beta tester _and _a cheater… He's a beater!" Kirito smiled evilly and nodded to himself.

"A beater… that's a good name. That's right. I am a beater." Kibaou recoiled in disbelief as my friend unveiled what appeared to be his true colors, and I restrained myself from following him up to the stands. This was Kirito's show. "From now on, don't confuse me with the other players." At this, the last attack bonus that Kirito won was equipped, the Coat of Midnight. It was jet black, as expected, with an extended collar.

Once the Coat settled on Kirito, he harrumphed in Kibaou's direction and turned to the stairs to the second floor. I followed behind him and to his left after I snarled at the poor excuse for a man we left behind. It only took a moment, but Asuna began to run after the pair of us. "Wait!" she called, halting our ascension to the second floor. Kirito made no move to turn back, so I did for him. "You called my name when we were fighting."

"Sorry for being rude," Kirito apologized, and I saw at once he was attempting to cut off all ties with other players. "Or did I mess up the pronunciation?"

"Where did you learn it?" Asuna asked, and I almost laughed at the ridiculousness of the subject matter. However, before I knew it, my friend had finished speaking and moved to the top of the stairs without me. I sighed sadly, knowing that all ties meant _all _ties. I was included in his disappearance, and reluctantly, I accepted this. I knew I'd still be able to PM him without much trouble.

"You can become powerful," Kirito said, startling me out of my reverie. "You too, Sarok. So if anyone you trust ever invites you to join a guild, don't turn them down. Because there's an absolute limit to what you can do as a solo player."

"Then what about you?" Asuna asked softly, but her question was only met with silence as Kirito dissolved the party and moved forward, leaving the floor without once turning back. A tear fell from her eye, and I descended to her level, placing my hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"He'll be back," I murmured. "Just give it some time, and it'll all blow over. I know him." She nodded sadly, and we watched him go. After the heavy stone doors shut behind him, I sneered and turned back to Kibaou, letting my rage flow into my personality.

"Now," I started, my voice raising to a threatening volume. "Kibaou, you son of a bitch. It's time you and I had _words._" Fearfully, the man in question stepped back, and I grinned in a dark pleasure, striding up to him with purpose and lifting him off the ground with one hand. "While that you've turned the man who could be the most _powerful _player in this godforsaken game _against _you lot, you've forgotten one thing."

"W-What's that?" he asked, seemingly terrified of the glint in my eye. _Justly so, _I thought vindictively.

"Kirito. Wasn't. The. Only. One. Who. Noticed." I punctuated each word with a shake of the fist that held the man aloft. "In case you had forgotten, _I _yelled _with _him in warning. And guess what? I'm not even a beta tester. No, I've just played enough games in my life and HAD ENOUGH THOUGHT THAT I COULD NOTICE THE CHANGING PATTERNS! BEYOND THAT, I CHECKED WITH A FEW INFO BROKERS PRIOR TO THE FIGHT TO DOUBLE-CHECK!" My virtual spittle flew into the terrified man's face, dissolving an instant after.

I snarled and threw him away, stalking up the stairs and into the next floor without another word. Idly, I sent Asuna a party request in order to stay in contact and explain what I had done, but by and large I had no desire to stagnate in that stuffy chamber any longer. I needed to kill something, and that something needed to be angry at me back.

A/N: Now, several of you might be very angry at me for the delay. As a result, this is a bit longer. Also, please allay your concerns. I simply had a massive wall of writer's block. Oh, and my dad had a heart attack. So yeah. Forgive me for not uploading.


End file.
